Two Year Gotcha Day Anniversary

 I can hardly believe that two years have passed since Amelia came into our family.  She truly is everything that I prayed she would be!  We celebrated our Gotcha Day anniversary on the 23rd, since it is really the 24th in China.  Although Amelia was definitely the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for, I really want to try to separate this celebration from all of the family Christmas festivities. 

We began our day with giving Amelia her Gotcha Day present.  As Amelia gets older, she will receive special items we bought for her while in China, but right now, we give her a China related gift.  Amelia LOVED a baby panda bear that she saw while shopping one day at the beach.  It talked and walked and was everything that she could ever want.  She loved on this panda throughout the store until David and I found out how much they were asking for it.  We told her that it was too expensive, and we needed to leave it at the store.  Amelia was sad, but she put it back on the shelf without a fuss.  David and I decided that it would be a great gift for Amelia to have for Gotcha Day, so David went back to buy it.  Needless to say, she was so excited when she opened the box, and a bonus was that she was wearing matching panda jammies!

 

 

 

 

Next, we headed for a manicure and pedicure.  Amelia is definitely a girly girl and wants to have her nails painted.  On the way back from the beach, she asked if she could go see Mr. Tim at the paint store.  I quickly realized that she wanted a real manicure and pedicure and not just some paint put on her nails by Mommy.   Since we were celebrating Gotcha Day, this was a special thing we could do together. 

After nails, we met Daddy and Poppy for lunch at the Chinese restaurant.  Unfortunately, Paw Paw has the flu and couldn't come.  We want him better for Christmas, so we excused him missing the lunch celebration.  Amelia really wanted to ride in Poppy's car, so we all headed to Target.  Poppy was already headed that way, and I needed to pick up a few things, so it all worked out.  While we were there, Amelia chose a "Frozen" cookie cake as her special dessert.  She was thrilled!

A nap was next on the list followed by a shrimp dinner with some fresh shrimp we brought back from the beach.  Our neighbors and some close friends who were in the country for the holidays were able to come over and eat dinner with us.  Amelia and Aidan had a great time playing together. 
 

Overall, it was the end of a wonderful Gotcha Day anniversary!  I still can hardly believe how much she has grown and changed over the past two years!  We are so blessed to have this wonderful child!

Christmas Beach Trip 2014

For many years now, my Aunt Marla and Uncle Tommy have allowed David and I to use their beach condo the week before Christmas.  Last year, we took Amelia in November, because we didn't want her to be overwhelmed with a trip to the beach and her first Christmas at home all at once.  This year, we returned to our tradition of traveling to the beach for a few days the week before Christmas.  Amelia LOVES the beach.  She loves it so much that she has been more excited about traveling to the beach than having Santa come to her house.  We were able to spend 5 wonderful days playing and relaxing.  It rained for almost the entire trip, but we managed to be able to spend a little time on the beach playing in the sand, and the indoor pool was a major bonus, since our little fish loves to swim. 

The day started out chilly, but it warmed up quickly.

Amelia loves this panda hat and decided to wear it even after I told her she could take it off.

Building a sand castle with Daddy

Sliding and rolling down the hill of sand was a major entertainment.

She even dipped her toes in the water, but quickly realized that Mommy was correct when she said the water was freezing.

Amelia thought sitting in this basket was hilarious!

I attempted to take pictures of Amelia in her white dress on the beach.  Unfortunately, Amelia thought it was more fun to play in the sand while wearing her white dress.  This is why I am a BIG fan of bleach!

It rained for two days straight, so we weren't able to go to the beach.  We shopped at the outlets one day and visited a friend in Fairhope the next.  Amelia was beyond excited when I told her we could go to the beach.  I warned her that it was cold, but she didn't care!

Our last morning, the sun came out for a brief amount of time.  We hit the beach as fast as we could before the rain came back.  Amelia LOVES to dig in the sand!

We also managed a trip to Fort Morgan while we were at the beach.  Climbing up and down the STEEP steps was Amelia's favorite part!  There are no pictures of this, because it was extremely hard making sure she didn't fall off of the steps!

 

Our family had an amazing trip, and we are so thankful that we were able to have the opportunity to go!  Thank you Aunt Marla and Uncle Tommy!

Gingerbread House 2014

Last year, we began the tradition of having Amelia decorate a gingerbread house.  This year, Princess the Elf brought Amelia her gingerbread house.  We read "The Gingerbread Baby" this week, and Amelia was convinced that Princess was going to live in the house.  I explained that Princess was too big and the house didn't open, but she was able to decorate the outside of the house.  Amelia spent an hour and a half decorating this house.  She still wasn't finished when I called time, but we had to eat dinner and get to bed.  

Thank you for the house, Princess!

Can you tell she's REALLY excited?!

Amelia had to "try" some icing.  I think she "tried" it 63 times before the house was finished.

She loved decorating the little gingerbread men that came with the house.

Daddy fed her bites of chicken wings while she worked.  Amelia could eat her weight in them!

Finished Front

Finished Side

Finished Back

Finished Cookies

Amelia had a fabulous time decorating her house.  We are looking forward to next year!